The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Dash Lights 57 Chevy P/U

Hello all,
I am trying to trace the dash/speedo lights so I can get the them working again. I sent the speedo out to get overhauled as part of the restoration process. Do all the dash lights have to have a working bulb in the socket for all the rest to work? Where do the wires for the bulbs go? It looks like there are 8 bulbs and only 7 sockets on the back of the speedo. Any help would be great. Thank you!
Jon

the dash light bulbs all hook to the same power lead from the light switch and will operate individually .... there's 5, including one that goes in the ign switch ... there's also 2 for the turn signals that hook to the signal wiring .... and one for the headlight dimmer .... makes 8

Bill

Bill,
Thank you. Sorry to ask this question, Any idea which color wire/bulb goes to which socket?

The gray ones are the instrument panel lights. They can go into any light socket. The beam indicator (I think) is light green.
There is one bulb that goes in the area of the ignition switch.

The turn signal lamps will be a light blue (L) and a dark blue (R).

Red,LongBox,Waldo,
Thank you guys very very much! I see the colors and will plug them back in. None of the lights for the dash are working. I will have to figure that one out. After I pluged the AMP gauge back up and started the truck, the AMP needle was bouncing back and forth between the 1/2 way dot and the furthest dot to the right very fast. it never did this before. Any ideas? Jon

1/2 way is 'neutral', to the right is charge [left is discharge], must be the regulator ... if you had the gen worked on might need to polarize it, but check all the circuit connections, grounds and batt cables

Bill

Bill,
Ok I will have to get those items check out. I have not done much to the engine since bringing it to San Francisco.
Thank you!
Jon

If yoyr amp meter is bouncing it could be a direct short, if it is bouncing to the + side it could be wired backwards. Also on your dash lights make sure you have a good rehostat on your light switch, the spring in them tends to get rusty and break or time. Good luck

Bill,
Tonight I got my turn signal indicator in the speedo working!! I also see the high beam light is working. After plugging in all the gray wire dash lights I still have no lights. I know you had talked about where the grey wires go but I still ended up with one extra gray wire. Not sure where that goes. Any ideas?
Thank you!

if the lights don't work maybe the leftover gray is the one that goes to the light switch to power them - should hook to "PL" for panel lights - if that's hooked up and they still don't work then the rotary rheostat may be dirty or bad ... and the xtra then might be the ignition sw light?

Bill

i think there is a short fuse 4 or 5 amp on the back of the headlight switch for dash lights
My 58 has one

Lindsay,
Yes, on my 57 light swtich there is a very small fuse. I am trying to find out where the last dash gray light bulb goes.
Bill, I am looking at the back of the ignition switch and I do not see where that bulb would plug in. I did not see a location on th light switch as well. Ok I will check the rotary rheostat as well. it is amazing just to see the turn signals working again after 30 years.

what the light switch looks like [if ya got the right one] - the dash lights connect to the terminal at the front right [of the pic] near the copper part - the rotary wire rheostat is the dimmer for them .... the fuse on the back is for the whole light system - the spring [relay-like] contacts on the sides of the sw are bi-metal circuit breakers for head and tail systems that open if the circuit overheats, close again when they cool, dash lights not seperately fused

the ign sw has a 'protrusion' on the side with a hole same as the ones on the gauge cluster for the socket .... I think some of the originals didn't have it, or maybe it was early 3rd party replacements that didn't

Bill

Bill
thank you for your patience with me on this project. I dont get how the actual bulb would plug into an ignition switch but I will look when I get home from work. The light switch you included looks the same. How do you get the rod out that you pull on to turn lights on?

there's a little 'button' on top of the switch [opposite side from wires] - pull the knob out to the on position and press that button and the knob rod pulls all the way out ... have the battery disconnected

the bulb itself doesn't plug into the ign sw, it needs to be in a socket on the end of the wire, same as the ones in the gauge set, and that pokes in the hole behind that red cardboard, so the light shines out the key hole when on

Bill

I was looking at mine the other nite also-which also don't work-looking at the manual it appears that light switch needs to be grounded..which mine is not..from the schematic it appears the switch has a ground terminal to the right of the knob that "appears" to be grounded by the dome light fiture..the online manual has a schematic and illustration detailing what the various terminals of the switch do..

see link------> http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1955truck2/55ctsm1203.htm

good luck-Keith

that ground [to the dome light] is what turns the dome light on, the switch itself is grounded by the case held against the dash by the ferrule nut, so the dome only gets a ground when the knob is turned to that position

Bill

Wow! A key ignition that lights up? That is sweet!
My dome light works great now as well.

Bill,
Great news! The dash lights work! I replaced the light switch and everything came on! Gas gauge works again. On the gas sender in the tank that thin metal strip was broke. I am still need to clean up the threads on the ign. sw. Then that small job is done.
I have another question but I will post it to the right topic.
Thank you all for the support! Jon

Bill,
Learned a valuable lesson tonight. I forgot to hook the oil pressure tube up to the speedo. NOT SMART! Nice puddle of oil at my feet. what was really strange was the engine was making a noice I had never heard before..but hooked up the tube and it stopped! Thank you! Jon